.gif)
I am a directionally-challenged individual. I can get lost in a box, and even if I
successfully find my way to my destination, I may not find my way back
easily. Road names are important to me
as a matter of travel survival. Therefore,
I do not readily appreciate the existence of Village Road, Village Road East,
Village Road West, and New Village Road, all in West Windsor Township, New
Jersey. I am still trying to understand
what those same municipal minds have done with Meadow Road.
It is even worse when the same road has multiple names. In Princeton, a mere 3-mile stretch of road
has numerous names. In my own small town
of Plainsboro, Edgemere Ave. becomes Dey Rd.
This makes for real frustration and confusion for the unititated.
Sometimes, though, there is a good reason for a road to have
multiple names. A major road may be
identified by a county or state number but have more “personalized” names as it
goes from town to town. While the
highway remains the route to your destination, the street name as it passes
through a town tells you that it is time to slow down and perhaps stretch your
legs and look for a meal. It seems to me
that this phenomenon can help us to understand an important spiritual concept.
As the women of Perisseia have learned, truth is at the
heart of who God is and must be at the heart of who we are and who we are
becoming. With the foundation of truth
in place, God can then sanctify us and grow us into the people He has created
us to be. Growth and sanctification
often include Godly and gracious confrontation, confession and repentance,
forgiveness, perseverance through trials, and practicing appropriate
boundaries. None of these elements of
Christian growth is possible without truth.
This is where the analogy of road names comes in. The highway to heaven could appropriately be
named Truth. As we travel the Highway of
Truth toward heaven, though, we may find ourselves in areas with reduced speed
limits and local names—names like Confrontation, Confession and Repentance,
Forgiveness, Perseverance, and Boundaries.
If we are to learn, grow, and mature in our faith—so that we are able to
reach our destination—it is imperative that we remain on the highway of Truth
but also observe the reduced speed limits of the slower sections and take
advantage of what they offer us on our journey.
Too often we want to hurry and find a detour around these difficult
sections, but if we do so, by ignoring, avoiding, or suppressing the truth that
is to be found in them, we will find we have left the Highway and become
hopelessly lost. If we patiently
persevere, though, we will successfully cover important ground and remain on
the Highway of Truth.
May we faithfully travel the Highway of Truth, resist
detours when it becomes slower and less pleasant, and encourage one another to
do the same.
